- •It is dangerous to paddle too late in the day when you aren't
certain of your landing conditions.
•Being too tired limits your options. It's best to
stop well before you have reached your limits. •Since longer
waves travel faster than shorter waves, the biggest waves from
a distant storm are the first to arrive. This means that the
swell height increases quickly and then slowly decreases over
the next several days, unless waves from another storm arrive
in the meantime. This is one possibility for the increase in
swell size as they neared Burnett Bay.
•The swell had looked
gentle because it was so long between crests. Looking at the
shallow slope of the waves, one doesn't notice that they may
actually be relatively high. Once the waves are slowed by the
shallow water near shore, the considerable energy in these long,
fast waves is compressed into a much shorter wave length, increasing
the wave height and steepening the wave faces until they fall
over themselves into large breakers. It is difficult to judge
the height of the surf from outside it. In this case it was probably
over twice as big as the paddlers judged it to be.
•During
a high tide, surf dumps more violently onto the steeper upper
beaches. During a low tide, the surf expends the same wave energy
more gently over a much wider area of beach. If you capsize in
the first breakers, it is more likely you'll be able to hang
onto your kayak. During a high tide at Burnett Bay, according
to Burr, bigger waves break over shallows and re-form several
times, making landing very difficult and making a long swim to
shore highly likely.
•The surf they had observed out in
the middle of the bay was probably due to some underwater rocks,
and could have been skirted without having to circle around as
far as they thought. A close look at the chart would have shown
this.
•Wrapping the rope several times around his hand
so the kayak could not be pulled free of him caused Scott no
problem in this instance, but it is generally a dangerous practice
in surf. If a breaker had gotten a good grip on the cockpit or
surfed the kayak ahead of it and suddenly yanked his arm when
he came to the end of his rope, it could have dislocated his
shoulder, elbow or wrist.
•The severe gash in Tim's hand
caused by the rudder cable makes it clear you should never
try to hang onto a kayak by any thin cable or line, which can
saw into your flesh. If the surf is big enough to slam you
into the kayak in spite of your efforts to keep away from it,
let go of it and swim off to one side to avoid colliding with
it.
•Letting the kayak get sideways by wrapping yourself
around its middle, rather than holding onto one end, usually
results in a quicker ride to the beach than could be achieved
by holding one end of the kayak or swimming. When you are holding
the bow of the kayak, your body acts as a brake and the bow
of the kayak is held facing into the waves, allowing the kayak
to slip through the waves easily. This increases the time it
takes the breakers to carry you and a kayak to the beach. Also,
when you hang onto the bow or stern, the breaker can slam you
into the hard, pointed end. Then, when the trough pulls you
back while the kayak is still being pushed forward by the crest,
you could injure your arm or shoulder, especially if you can't
instantly let go of the kayak because you have fixed yourself
to it in some way as Scott did. The same effect could also
pull the kayak from your grasp. Burr cautions that it might
be hard to hang on by hugging the kayak if it rams the bottom
end first (his speculation on how the Teslas were damaged).
A kayak free to pivot usually quickly goes sideways and stays
that way. However, I have seen kayaks get turned down-wave
as one breaker passes them, and then be surfed end-first and
rammed into the sand by the next breaker. A kayak will often
suffer damage when the leading end pearls and snags on the
bottom. The mass of the kayak (with its load of water, if swamped)
keeps going and the kayak folds up. •If there is any
chance you may have to land through significant surf, consider
keeping a helmet handy so you can put it on before entering
the surf zone.
•It is best to avoid surf landings, if
possible, especially in a gear-laden kayak. The chance of damaging
your kayak or yourself rises exponentially with the height
of the surf.
Matt Broze is a co-author of Deep
Trouble and a kayak designer and
retailer in Seattle, Washington. |
